Her team rallied from an 11-point, third-quarter deficit and led by two with 2:41 left in the game, but would not score again. Turnovers and lack of rebounding hurt them down the stretch in a 54-49 loss to visiting Notre Dame Academy in CHSAA Staten Island girls basketball Tuesday night. The Gators’ Ashley Iannacone’s 3-point play on a putback with 39 seconds left would give her team the lead for good at 51-49.

“We got a little careless with the ball, but we gave an effort,” first-year Hill coach Joe Luken said

The Hilltoppers (5-1, 0-1 CHSAA Staten Island) had their chances to extend the lead, but NDA sophomore Shannon McGill forced a double dribble on a handoff between Lauren DeForte and Kieran Meagher and on the next possession knocked a ball off DeForte out of bounds. The Gators (1-1, 1-0) would score the next seven points and Iannacone grabbed two huge rebounds.

“She wanted to win,” Carey said of Iannacone. “They wanted it more than we did.”

The loss spoiled another fine performance from Carey. She scored 23 points and grabbed 21 rebounds, for her fifth double-double of the season. DeForte scored 14 points and Meagher added eight. Sam LaForgia led NDA with 18 points including 3-of-4 from the line in the final seconds. Iannacone and McGill each added 11.

“They killed us with their shooting,” Luken said.

Notre Dame built a 33-22 lead on the strength of LaForgia and McGill’s 3-point shooting with 5:45 left in the third quarter. Hill rallied with an 11-2 run, but trailed 43-27 going into a back-and-forth fourth quarter. Luken chose to stick with the group that was playing well, keeping speedy starting guard Brittany Spoto on the bench.

“We know we are better than that,” Carey said. “We know we can beat this team. … We just couldn’t get any momentum going.